Nurses in Oregon picket to demand better staff and higher pay

More than 3,000 nurses at six Oregon hospitals spent a second day on picket lines Wednesday carrying signs that read, “Patients over profits” and “We want to make sure it’s safe inside,” while continuing to demand fair pay and better conditions. of work. staffing levels.

Nurses are on strike at six Providence medical facilities across the state — from St. Vincent Medical Center in Portland in the north to Medford Medical Center in the south.

Organizers say it is the largest nurses’ strike in the state’s history, while Providence has emphasized that no patient’s health is being put at risk as it has hired contract workers to temporarily fill the gap.

Scott Palmer, chief of staff for the Oregon Nurses Association, said nurses have been in negotiations since December but “have been unable to get Providence to a fair contract.”

Palmer said the focus of negotiations is on “recruitment and retention issues,” including sufficient salaries, benefits and staffing standards.

Jennifer Gentry, director of nursing for the Providence Central Division, said the organization has contracted with a company to provide replacement workers to ensure patient care is not jeopardized. Gary Walker, a company spokesman, said the strike did not affect its facilities. They treated about 800 people in their emergency rooms on Tuesday and no elective surgeries were postponed.

Palmer said the striking nurses want people to get the care they need, but they want caregivers to be supported.

“It’s very important that people know, through nurses and the American Nurses Association, that if you are sick, don’t delay getting medical care,” Palmer told the Associated Press. “Patients should seek hospital care immediately if they need it. Obviously, our nurses would have preferred to be the ones providing this care, but Providence forced our hand and instead we found ourselves on the picket line advocating for these patients.”

Staffing and competitive wages are the focus of their demands, Palmer said. When staffing levels are low, nurses can’t eat lunch, there are delays in answering patient calls and it’s even difficult to find time to go to the bathroom, he said.

This constant stress is causing record levels of burnout among nurses, Palmer said.

“We know that nurses are choosing to leave the profession en masse and there is a moral harm that nurses suffer from being unable to provide the quality care that patients deserve, because at least in Oregon, the main reason for this is the levels insecure staffing,” he said.

Providence Chief Nursing Officer Gentry said Oregon has passed a “safe staffing” law and the company follows the law’s staffing mandates.

Palmer said the nurses want Providence to put those staffing levels in the contracts, but Gentry said they offered to put in the contract that they would follow the law rather than include specific numbers if the law changed.

The strike is expected to last until Thursday.

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This story has been corrected to show the proper title of Jennifer Gentry. She is chief nursing officer for the Providence Central Division.